In the course of my scholarly and academic research and exploration there have been several books that I consider revelatory and have helped shaped the course of my own research and areas of interest
Since reading Professor Wolf's 2012 monograph I have been a great admirer of the work he has been doing to explore the world's behind fictional texts in their broadest sense (from narratives, films, television shows to video games and amusement parks). For me this opened up a whole next vista in looking at a text and added to my thinking in my primary Tolkien research and studies which tends to focus on how Tolkien used invented languages combined with myth-making to build his world of Middle-earth.
Professor Wolf has also gone on to bring together scholars to explore the role of world-building. This included the volume Revisiting Imaginary Worlds: A Sub-creation Studies Anthology published by Routledge in 2017 which included a brilliant chapter by Dr. Dimitra Fimi on The Past as an Imaginary World: The Case of Medievalism which compares and contrasts the medieval world-building of Thomas Chatterton, Umberto Eco and J.R.R. Tolkien. I was very excited to review both the 2012 monograph and this volume for The Journal of Tolkien Research
I first got to work with Professor Wolf when he asked Dimitra and I to contribute a chapter on 'Invented Languages' in the 2018 The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. It was around this time that I heard that he was planning another collected volume of exploring world-building in fictional texts and I jumped at the chance to be a part of this one.
I decided to contribute to this new volume with a piece not on Tolkien or invented languages but around a story-world that I had grown up with and is a very important part of my life - the world ofDark Shadows. Ever since I ran home from school to watch the last seasons of the original episodes on ABC TV in New York City and then re-watched the original 1245 episodes that started in 1966 (the same year Star Trek first appeared) again in re-runs, on MPI Videos and (to this day) on DVD's and Amazon Prime I have been fascinated by the gothic world of Dark Shadows. I have been very lucky to have actually attended several Dark Shadows fan conventions in New York City and meet some of the original cast including Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins), Lara Parker (Angelique), David Selby (Quentin) and Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans/Josette) who to this day is involved with many Dark Shadows projects including the recent excellent recordings of the original Dark Shadows gothic novels by Marilyn Ross (I am up to number 16 Barnabas, Quentin and The Mummy's Curse) - I have explored some of the Marilyn Ross novels on past blog posts here
Sympathetic Vampires (long before Angel and Edward), werewolves, witches, time travel, Lovecraftian leviathans, parallel time - this trans-medial story-world has it all and I wanted my chapter in this volume to be a scholarly exploration using those ideas and thoughts that I learned from Professor Wolf's excellent work to explore the gothic world-building of Dark Shadows. It was an incredible exploration and along the way I discovered the vast and varied soup of gothic, horror, and weird stories that Dan Curtis and his team or writers dipped into to create the narratives of this world.
This new volume has just been published and has some brilliant chapters - here is the table of contents - hope you enjoy mine and many others explorations of the world's beyond the texts we read, watch, experience and play in - and I am looking forward to more exploration!
Foreword
Scott Adams
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Mark J. P. Wolf
WORLDS OF WORDS
The Journey of Niels Klim to the World Underground by Ludvig Holberg: Subcreation and Social Criticism
Lars Konzack
‘A Little Bit of England Which I Have Myself Created’: Creating Barsetshire across Forms, Genres, Time, and Authors
Helen Conrad O’Briain
Mythopoetic Suspense, Eschatology and Misterium: World-Building Lessons from Dostoevsky
Lily Alexander
Building the Vorkosigan Universe
Edward James
AUDIOVISUAL WORLDS
Our World: World-Building in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town
Mark J. P. Wolf
"Suckled On Shadows": States of Decay in Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast Novels
Edward O’Hare
The Gothic World-Building of Dark Shadows
Andrew Higgins
Daventry and the Worlds of King’s Quest
Christopher Hanson
TRANSMEDIA WORLDS
The Softer Side of Dune: The Impact of Social Sciences on World-Building
Kara Kennedy
Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: Balance and Interconnectivity in the Fractured Worlds of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s The Death Gate Cycle
Jennifer Harwood-Smith
Welcome to the "Second-stage" Lynchverse – Twin Peaks: The Return and the Impossibility of Return Vs. Getting a Return
Matt Hills
The Fault in Our Star Trek: (Dis)Continuity Mapping, Textual Conservationism, and the Perils of Prequelization
William Proctor
Appendix: On Measuring and Comparing Imaginary Worlds
Greetings from Wotan! Wotan has not sent Hugin and Muin out lately as he has been locked in his fortress of Valhalla researching and studying.
Wotan is very excited to have officially started a Phd research project around the Early Literary and Linguistic Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (1908-early 1920's) and is even triply excited to be working with one of the leading Tolkien visionaries and academics - Dr Dimitra Fimi - through Cardiff Metropolitan University. Wotan is working towards the final research proposal which is due in April and then a full 3-6 years of glorious Tolkienian research (and lots of talk and trying out at ideas at this summer's Return of the Ring Tolkien conference)
Also on the Dr. Verlyn Flieger front - joy and exultation her new book Green Sun and Faerie is now available and I have been devouring every chapter which includes some excellent new writing by Dr. Flieger on Tolkien and the Kalevala based on the work she has done on Tolkien's early Kullervo story and Tolkien's 1914-15 talk on The Kalevala.
It is brilliant to have this volume on Tolkien by Dr. Flieger and it stands next to Tom Shippey's Roots and Branches - now one hopes Dr Michael Drout would write a similar volume. A must read
Switching gears - the other excitement for Wotan has been the coming of the new Dark Shadows film in May. But even before this and perhaps even more exciting for Wotan has been the publishing of a new book on Dark Shadows -
The Return to Collinwood by Kathryn Leigh Scott (who played Maggie Evans and Josette Du Pres (among others) in the original Dark Shadows TV show - appearing in over 600 of the 1,222 episodes) and Jim Pearson. I highly recommend this book to any lover of Dark Shadows. There are some great insights into the coming movies and the recollections of Kathryn Leigh Scott and Lara Parker (Angelique) are brilliant and add some interesting info to how this 1,225 episode fantasy/sci-fi/gothic soap opera was flamed as well as the two movies (and I eagerly awaiting the reedited cut of Night of Dark Shadows with the cut scenes put back). good chapters on the revival series as well and he current audio dramas through Big Finish Productions.
Having the book signed by Kathryn Leigh Scott herself makes it one of my treasured Dark Shadow possessions which will never leave me for all eternity and I decided to join the signed picture she sent me with another of my treasured Dark Shadows items which will be familiar to all fans of the show!
Finally there is the upcoming big budget blockbuster Dark Shadows movie starting Johnny Depp as Barnabas and Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman directed by Timothy Burton. Wotan is hopeful about this film - the trailer is exciting and yes I think there it is a bit of tongue in cheek treatment of the story (set in the hippie lava lamp strewn days of 1972), But Depp is a great fan of Dark Shadows so I am sure it has been done with care - and it will be fun to watch for the original Dark Shadows cast members (including the first and best Barnabas of all times Jonathan Frid) in the Dark Shadows town ball party scene). Trailer below!
So that is it from Wotan for now - Wotan returns to the Halls of Asgard to consult my friend Erda the green headed torso on the early lexicons of Tolkien - but he will stay in touch and send Hugin and Munin out for news of the many worlds!
